Little Black Box
by BlueLLama9
Summary: You can find a lot of different things while cleaning. Sasuke Uchiha found a small box of anxiety and worries, oh, and a silver ring.


They had been together for eight years now. The first year after the war ended Sasuke Uchiha wandered around the village aimlessly, not knowing what to do with himself. Naruto had made sure their recent discoveries about the massacre were public knowledge and Sakura, after finding out the truth, often needed to be restrained whenever in the presence of the Konoha elders. They were not executed, as Sasuke would have originally wanted, but they had been imprisoned and died soon after.

Not having someone to hate proved to be unbearable, because he didn't have anything else to feel strongly about either. The reality of it was that team seven was not back to the way it used to be for a long time, and the awkwardness and issues they had needed to be solved and that could never be done fast, but to his surprise there was never a morning he was not greeted by Naruto's affectionate insults and Sakura's warm smile.

In the second year after the war, Sasuke was burying himself in missions. He knew the rest of his team didn't like being so busy all the time, but they did it for him anyway. His routine was rather simple: eat, shower, train or go on a mission, get back home, eat, sleep and repeat.

He slowly opened up to his team, and in turn they opened up to him. He learned to let his guard down occasionally, not push them away and cooperate more. They learned how to respect his privacy, when he really needed to be cut off from people and not pry when he had a bad day. Things were going surprisingly well, but the most unexpected thing was when Naruto, in one of the rare moments of seriousness, told him about Sakura. How in the three years he was gone there was not a day she didn't push herself to the breaking point to get stronger, how she learned to hide her feelings and cry only when she thought no one could see her and most importantly how even then, after everything, she looked at Sasuke with the kind of love he never thought he would have again.

Sasuke struggled with the information for a while, not knowing exactly what to do with it. He never considered the prospect of being with anyone, it still didn't seem like something he wanted, but one day, for her sake, and to try and make amends, he asked her to have dinner with him. The rest is now history, but he still wonders occasionally, like now, looking at her and all the things in their personalities that are incompatible, how it was possible to feel so much love for someone.

Going about their daily life was pleasant and living under the same roof proved to be surprisingly easy, at least now. They had their moments, of course, when they simply couldn't see eye to eye and he would have to sleep on the couch, or worse, crash over at Naruto and Hinata's place. But, with time, they learned how to deal with each other and the fights were few and far in between.

It was during a Saturday, when Sakura dragged Sasuke out of bed early in the morning to clean the house, that he discovered something that would throw him into a pit of despair unlike anything he has ever experienced before.

"Sasuke-kun, are you ready? We need to hurry, we're late already."

Sasuke shoved his hands deep in his pockets and followed her towards the door. The small, black box he was grasping with his right hand was giving him a lot of trouble. He had found it when he was looking through the boxes he brought over from his old family home, boxes he did not look into too often, as they carried a lot of bittersweet memories.

"Do we really have to go? Can't we say we had to clean all day and we're tired?"

Sakura laughed and shook her head. She would never get tired of Sasuke trying to get out of any social situation. She knew he did always end up enjoying himself when they visited Naruto, so she never gave in.

"Don't worry, we won't stay too long. We do have to go see my parents next weekend though."

Sasuke's heart sank. The tiny box in his pocket combined with the nagging feeling Sakura's parents still didn't like him made him feel nauseated. Sakura told him he was being silly many times, but he still couldn't get it out of his head. The worst part of it all was that he didn't know how to act around them. He had warmed up to Sakura a long time ago, and loving her came easily, but showing it in front of other people was impossibly hard.

They discussed if they should paint the kitchen a different colour soon. Sakura had this obsession with painting a room of their house every year and Sasuke didn't exactly mind if not for the fact that he always had to convince her to back out of her plans to paint the walls a bright, ridiculous colour. Their conversation ended abruptly when they arrived at Naruto's door. Before they got the chance to knock, Naruto opened the door and as a greeting, said:

"You're late."

He hugged Sakura and tried to blame them being late on Sasuke, then he stepped out of the way so they could go inside. Hinata was in the living room, sitting down in a chair. She smiled at them and Sakura walked over to kiss her on the cheek. Naruto sat down next to her on one of the arms of the chair and placed a hand on her shoulder. Hinata's shy smile and Naruto's wide grin had both Sakura and Sasuke suspect this invitation was not spontaneous at all. They sat down next to each other, their legs and arms touching, and they waited.

"Sakura-chan, Sasuke-bastard. Do you have any idea why we invited you over?" asked Naruto in a cheerful tone.

"Are they taking away your Hokage title because they found out you're incompetent?" replied Sasuke with a smirk on his face.

Sakura and Hinata both laughed, and even Naruto could not keep a glare on his face for more than a second. He got up, inhaled deeply and pointed towards Hinata's stomach.

"There is a little us inside there." he said, and the joyful look on his face could light up the entirety of Konoha.

Sasuke jumped at the sound of glee that erupted out of Sakura's mouth and he couldn't help but smile himself. He sat up along with Sakura and they congratulated the soon to be parents. The happiness of everyone in the room was almost palpable, so thick and overwhelming they all had a hard time keeping a straight face.

Naruto was especially amusing that evening, being ridiculously over protective of Hinata, trying to stop her from standing up or trying to make her eat every five minutes. Sasuke took Sakura's hand and squeezed it, that usually being his silent way of saying he was feeling good. Sakura squeezed back and leaned over towards him to kiss his cheek. Sakura thought she should save Hinata, who in reality didn't seem to mind too much, from the frantic Naruto, so she got up and asked her if she wanted to go outside and get some fresh air. She shot Sasuke a look which told him he was supposed to calm Naruto down and he sighed.

As they walked outside Naruto wanted to follow them, but Sasuke rushed towards him, grabbed his arm and dragged him to the couch. Naruto's protests were irritating Sasuke, so, in a desperate moment he took out the small, black container from his pocket and opened it for Naruto.

Naruto gasped and looked at Sasuke with wide eyes then after swallowing hard he said:

"Sasuke, I'm already married you know?"

Sasuke punched Naruto in the arm and made an irritated noise. He pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled slowly.

"You idiot. I found this today when we were cleaning. I thought that maybe Sakura and I should..."

He did not continue the sentence. The prospect of proposing was terrifying to him, and he had no idea how he brought himself to mention it to Naruto who was known for his big mouth. The small, silver ring was simple and delicate, having only the Uchiha crest engraved into it. He remembered his mother wearing it all the time and how much she loved it. His train of thought was interrupted by Naruto's laughing. Sasuke turned his head to look at the blond and give him an irritated scowl.

"Sakura-chan is going to be so happy. Can I watch when you do it?" he said when he finally calmed down.

Sasuke's face felt like it was on fire. He had no idea how or when or if he was ever going to do it and he sure as well wasn't going to embarrass himself in front of Naruto of all people.

"Don't tell her anything, you hear me? I haven't decided on anything yet."

Naruto swore he would remain silent about the whole affair, but Sasuke was paranoid, afraid even, that Sakura would find out. As if on cue, Sakura and Hinata returned into the room and Sasuke rushed to close the box and shove it in his pocket. Before Naruto sat up to allow Sakura to take her place by Sasuke he whispered:

"Don't be an idiot, she'll love it."

Naruto did not return to pestering Hinata about standing still until the baby was about to come, so Sasuke took it as a win. It felt good to get it off his chest, but he was still afraid Naruto would do something stupid. He didn't even notice he was shaking until Sakura sat down next to him, put a hand on his arm and asked if he was okay.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Can we go home now?" he replied and Sakura did not protest.

They said their goodbyes and congratulated Naruto and Hinata one more time then, after a very obvious and suggestive look from Naruto, they were on their way. The sky was dark already, and as they walked home, hand in hand, Sasuke wondered if he should just do it right now, get it over with. At least it was dark and she could not see his face well if this was a complete failure, he thought, but he couldn't bring himself to take the damn thing out of his pocket.

Sakura noticed something was off about him but did not want to ask. It wasn't unusual for him to get like this, so deep in his thoughts that he would ignore everything around him. Feeling his thumb moving on her hand occasionally was enough for her. She would wait for him to tell her, he always did.

As they arrived back at home, they had a cup of tea and decided to take a bath. One thing no one but Sakura knew about Sasuke was that he loved to play with her hair. As he leaned back in the bathtub, he took strands of Sakura's hair and twirled them around his fingers, over and over again. Sakura leaned back on Sasuke and closed her eyes, feeling relaxed and content.

"Today was wonderful, wasn't it? I'm really happy for Naruto and Hinata."

Sasuke made a sound of approval as he continued to play with Sakura's hair. He had always loved its unique colour and how easy it was to spot Sakura because of it. He wondered once again about the proposal, and what the appropriate way of doing it would be but then the horrifying thought of telling people about it, and having an actual wedding made him shudder.

"Are you cold?" Sakura asked, turning around to look at him.

"A little." Sasuke lied.

"We have been in here for a while now, we should probably get out."

They dried themselves and changed into their sleeping clothes. Sasuke was about to crawl into bed when he noticed Sakura picking up the pants he had worn today with the ring inside of them, the ring Sasuke forgot to take out and hide.

"You can't just leave things laying around Sasuke-kun, we just cleaned today. We have to wash these too."

To Sasuke's horror, she started turning out his pockets to see if there was anything in them before throwing them in the laundry basket. He was not fast enough, and as Sakura took out the small box he felt like he had ruined everything.

"What is this?" she asked, looking at it with a shocked expression.

Sasuke walked over to her, his eyes on the ground. He couldn't think of any excuse to get out of this, so he thought it was either now or never.

"Open it." he said, and his voice did not sound like his own.

Sakura's eyes widened, and she opened the box slowly, with shaky hands. Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes from the second she saw a glimpse of the Uchiha crest on the small, beautiful ring. She met Sasuke's anxious look and smiled widely.

"Are you... is this... are you proposing?"

"I was supposed to do it in a different way but, yeah."

She took out the ring and put it on her finger, examining it. She felt like she was floating, no longer being able to contain her tears. She would not let him get off that easily, though, so she said in a tight voice:

"Ask me properly."

Sasuke took the hand on which she had put the ring and squeezed it. He avoided her eyes for a moment until he said, almost too silently:

"Marry me."

It sounded more like a demand than a question but Sakura could not be bothered by that. She threw herself at Sasuke, her arms and legs around him and kissed him hard on the mouth. He stepped back until he was sat on the bed and they kissed for a long time. Their faces were both wet from Sakura's tears and when she pulled away Sasuke wiped them off. They hugged tightly until neither of them could breathe and Sakura, placing her lips next to his ears whispered:

"Yes."


End file.
